I came across an article where a senior high school student attempt to address the issue of homelessness in her home town by providing a simple solution. Her solution includes renovating abandoned houses in order to provide homes for the homeless. Although it seems like a great idea, it is anything but easy to do this all over the country. Unlike politicians who have the power to make changes in our society, this young teenager strongly believes that homelessness is an issue that needs to be addressed. The young girl also understands that not only do people that are homeless need to be sheltered, but they also need to be provided with services to help them get back on their feet. As Isabel says, “If you don’t have stable housing, you can’t really go to a job interview. You have no way of ensuring you can be there everyday”. This idea of housing first has come up several times on our class discussions. Not only does it make sense but it has provided results because it prioritizes providing homeless people with a place to live before addressing any other issues that they might have.
Solving this issue of homelessness does not only require money but it also greatly needs people to simply change their mentality of how they view homeless people. In order for it to be addressed, people need to start caring about the topic and view the people in the streets as humans that can be given a second chance. If people understood this, we would not be in the same place we were 10 years ago when it comes to providing a solution for this issue that only seems to grow.